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Controlling An Embedded Device Using Flash

Posted by Hemos on from the control-'em-all dept.

JimCricket writes "Art & Logic has just released a web server toolkit based on the open source GoAhead WebServer. The cool part is that it can communicate with Flash presentations using XML-RPC. The idea is to create GUI's to control embedded devices using Flash in addition to (or instead of) HTML. They've posted a little demo running on Windows, but in the real world the server would run on a low-power device. Seems like a great idea for the embedded world, given that Flash interfaces _can_ be very low-memory (as long as Flash designers stick to the vector-based graphics and ActionScript)."

5 of 174 comments (clear)

  1. need titles that are more clear! by lingqi · · Score: 4, Informative
    Controlling An Embedded Device Using Flash

    the first thing i thought when i read this was "controlling blah blah using sector-programmable EEPROM"... sigh; been in the hardware side too long.

    side point: flash programs themselves are small and neat -- but the actual client (that reads, processes, and displays the animations and all that) always have seemed quite processor intensive to me, though... so besides being fancy and neat -- i am sure there are more power-saving interfaces you can use if that's really what you are after.

    --

    My life in the land of the rising sun.

  2. info on flash on devices by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

    fyi:
    macromedia has a mobile device development center for flash
    http://www.macromedia.com/desdev/mobile/

    and there is this book:
    http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0735711771/

  3. Pros and cons by theolein · · Score: 4, Informative

    They wouldn't have done this unless there were some good reasons to do so. The Flash engine is small and runs on embedded devices due to Macromedia's tireless attempts to get it everywhere they can. A simple Flash player and Flash application can come in under 500k and there is no browser on earth that can match this. Flash supports XML calls although it doesn't validate them. This idea neglects a security model as Flash doesn't have one with respect to the server so I hope these guys are not planning on doing stock quotes or transactions or something like that. The Flash interface is a good idea on precisely those devices and may yet gain more acceptance than Flash in the browser ever did, because the browser is really meant for HTML and nothing else.

  4. That word doesn't mean what you think it means by shoppa · · Score: 2, Informative
    Mistake: Using the words Flash and Embedded in the article title.

    Problem 1: Flash is a very common kind of memory chip used in embedded devices. In fact, it's a multi-billion dollar industry. And it has nothing to do with Shockwave or Macromedia.

    Problem 2: There's no embedded computer in the example - it's a Windows box.

  5. Re:If only Macromedia... by Hard_Code · · Score: 3, Informative

    "If only there was an alternative to Flash to escape this."

    Synchronized Multimedia Integration Language (SMIL): http://www.xml.com/pub/a/2002/05/29/smil.html

    Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG):
    http://www.w3.org/TR/SVG/

    --

    It's 10 PM. Do you know if you're un-American?